Wife's First Plinker

[willhud]

My wife is interested in purchasing one of the following as her first pistol. These are just for plinking/target/range fun. Are any or you familiar with these. Pro’s, cons, etc.

Browning Buck Mark Camper
Sig Sauer Mosquito
Ruger 22/45
S&W 22A

I am particularly interested in the best ammo to use, difficulty in cleaning, jams, reliability, etc.

[aarondhgraham]

The Mosquito is a problem plagued pistol,,,
And it has no advantage over the other three.

The other three pistols are fine guns,,,
Each having their own quirks.

The Browning is the easiest to clean,,,
The 22A is also very easy to clean.

The 22/45 is not difficult to clean,,,
But learning the tear-down/assembly process can be tiresome.

All three have accuracy capabilities beyond most shooters capabilities.

My personal preference is:

• 22/45
• 22A
• Buckmark

Bear in mind that the only thing I don't like about the Browning is the grip,,,
For some odd reason it always felt strange in my hands,,,
Other people find the grip to be very nice.

In short any of those three will perform very well,,,
She should handle them all and choose the one that makes her smile the biggest.

Aarond

.

[TheRaskalKing]

I'm not a fan of the mosquito, and the 22a has been too finnicky for me. YMMV.

I love the 22/45, though as Aaron noted, it's kind of a chore to disassemble. I also concur with the Buckmark's grip feeling goofy. Some people love it though.

If it were my choice, I'd get the 22/45.

[anothernewb]

We have the mosquito and 2 buckmarks. One is the hunter model with a wood grip, the other is a camper with the finger groove grip.

After a breakin period, the mosquito has been a fairly reliable pistol, (it jammed alot at first, would only run with mini-mags) but it has neither the feel nor the accuracy of the buckmark. Between the two, both of us feel that the mosquito has a much rougher trigger. While it may be capable of fantastic accuracy - we've put about 2k rounds through it and as of yet, we've never gotten a real tight group out of it.

if it were down to a choice between them, personally I'd pick the bucky without a second thought. I cannot comment on the 22/45 as I do not own one, but a friend has one and it's been every bit as reliable and accurate as the buckmark has

One thing though, the mosquito has a different grip that's a little more small-hand friendly. If that's a factor for you. My wife prefers the grip on the sig to the browning, but the browning shoots so nice that she usually picks that one anyway.

on a side note, we recently picked up a SR22, IMO I think it feels better than the mosquito in grip and trigger. We're waiting for a chance to run a bunch of rounds through it on the range soon.

[kraigwy]

In competition circles you see more Ruger 22/45s then anything else.

There is a reason for that.

Super reliable and super accurate.

I just never understood why people say the 22/45 is hard to clean. I haven't found it so.

[aarondhgraham]

I just never understood why people say the 22/45 is hard to clean.

What I meant when I typed "The 22/45 is not difficult to clean,,,
But learning the tear-down/assembly process can be tiresome."

Learning & remembering the tear-down and reassembly process is the only difficult part,,,
It took five minutes and one try to learn/remember that for my Beretta NEOS,,,
Same for my Bersa Thunder, CZ-75B, Beretta Cheetah, etc.

I've owned Ruger 22/45's for years now,,,
I still need the manual each and every time I clean them.

I finally copied the pages and had them laminated.

Love the 22/45 pistols,,,
Hate the engineer who designed them.

Aarond

.

[chris in va]

I had two 22/45's.

Have a look at the Ruger SR22. IMO a platform like that is a lot more fun.

[Pilot]

Ruger. Either a MK series or SR22. The MK series Rugers are not "hard to clean".

[AdrianVall]

I've got the 22/45 and an SR22. LOVE them both. Haven't taken them apart though, however. So not sure how that will factor in to my 'loving' them.

[Creeper]

For them that do find Rugers to be overly difficult to disassemble for cleaning... there is always the Majestic Arms "Speed Strip" kit.

C

[Colorado Redneck]

I put several thousand rounds thru one decades ago. Never had a hiccup. Cleaned the barrel innards once a year. Carried it in my truck for years. Loved that little gun. Never disassembled, never went to a smith. That would be my choice.

[Misssissippi Dave]

For someone with small hands the Beretta Neos should be considered. The 22A has a large grip. People with smaller hands might not care for it only for that reason. The BuckMark is a nice pistol and the grip is middle of the road so someone with smaller hands and someone with larger hands could probably both be happy. The Mosquito isn't a bad pistol. It just isn't a great one either. I only mentioned the pistols above that I have. The person that is going to be doing most of the shooting should at least handle all of them to help make up their mind about which to get. I don't have a Ruger since I didn't want to have to try to learn the take down procedure and the grip angle just doesn't work well for me.

I can do fairly well shooting the Neos, 22a, BuckMark and Mosquito. When you get the right ammo for any .22 pistol things improve. Finding which ammo works for which pistol, now that is the trick. I enjoy shooting all of them. Some more than others. My wife didn't like the 22a since the grip is way too large for her. I did put on wood grips on mine and they are a little larger than the stock ones were. I have worked on the Mosquitoes I own so someone should never think the way mine are is what you will get out of the box.

[ritepath]

My wife loves my MKII, she can shoot it like a champ. I'm going to get her a 22/45 for Christmas because she insists the MKII is her's and SR mine.

She likes to shoot the SR22, but much prefers the accuracy she gets out of the MKII.

[Gerry]

If she's a Trekkie or sci-fi nut, get her a Baretta Neos:

[jimbob86]

My kids hated the 22A ..... the gun was very dirty and they complained of burned powder/carbon flying out of the action and hitting them in the face.

I have a 22/45..... they shoot bricks of cheap ammo through that. Nice gun.

[marine6680]

I have an SR22 right now... decent accuracy for plinking and fun, but not for serious accuracy type shots. It is one heck of a blast to shoot.

The Ruger Mark III and 22/45 are more accurate, and fun to shoot as well, but the SR22 beats it on pure "empty the mag" fun.

You want decent groups and the pure fun of mag dumps, the SR22 is a good choice... You want to hit flys or match heads, and put all the rounds through one tiny ragged hole, get a Ruger Mark III or 22/45 target model. (sure you could mag dump one of those as well, its just the SR22 is more fun to do so with)

I will be getting a 22/45 or Mark III soon, as I want both the SR22 and a Mark type pistol.

[willhud]

She decided to get the Browning Buckmark Camper, but with a twist of sorts.

[willhud]

Ala the Rose Grip model.

[willhud]

Oh, and photo's are stock ones, we have a 3 day waiting period here before we can take them home.

I got a Sig 1911-22 for me.

[SW40F]

Originally Posted by willhud

She decided to get the Browning Buckmark Camper, but with a twist of sorts.

That will be her personal color, so that is a Good Thing.

Y'all bought a good gun, so now go plinking with her. A lot!

[marine6680]

I like the Buckmark... just not the fact that you need a tool to disassemble for cleaning. Just a personal thing though, I don't like needing a tool to disassemble. A bullet as an aid is ok though. Other than that... I liked the Buckmark better overall than the Mark series.

[willhud]

We have heard about the tool. Is that a tool that comes with it, or can someone post a link on where to purchase it?

Thanks.

[marine6680]

It should come with... its an allen key I believe, so you can get one anywhere.